Angry Birds, Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, and FIFA Enter the Video Game Hall of Fame
Four games spanning four decades of gaming history have been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. Announced on May 7, 2026, the class includes Angry Birds, Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, and FIFA International Soccer. Each one didn't merely succeed commercially — it changed what games could be and who they were for.
The mobile revolution in a slingshot
Angry Birds is the obvious crowd-pleaser of the 2026 class. Rovio released it in 2009, and the game went on to rack up more than 5 billion downloads worldwide, per Variety. Its genius was accessibility: no controller, no learning curve, just a touchscreen and a catapult. That simplicity helped turn mobile gaming from a curiosity into the dominant form of play on the planet. Two Hollywood films followed — in 2016 and 2019 — with a third slated for December 2026, proof that the brand's cultural reach extends well beyond the App Store.
Fog as a weapon
Silent Hill earns its place on atmosphere alone. Konami's 1999 survival horror title sold more than two million copies, but its sequels pushed the franchise past 14 million total sales. Where rivals relied on jump scares, Silent Hill used fog, warped sound design, and surrealist imagery to get under your skin. The horror was psychological — about guilt and dread rather than monsters lurking around corners. It permanently shifted how storytelling in games was approached, and its influence runs through almost every serious horror title released since.
The RPG blueprint
Dragon Quest (1986) predates most of its fans' parents' gaming memories. Developed by Enix — now Square Enix — for the Famicom, it codified the template for Japanese RPGs: turn-based combat, stat progression, a party of heroes on an epic journey. The induction comes just ahead of the franchise's 40th anniversary and acknowledges a game that shaped an entire genre, even if Final Fantasy tends to get more name recognition in Western markets.
The beautiful game, digitized
FIFA International Soccer (1993) is the ancestor of the world's best-selling sports franchise. EA's series had moved more than 325 million copies by the early 2020s, according to museum records. The Hall honors the original 1993 game specifically — not the later franchise evolution that drew criticism over Ultimate Team monetization. That first entry proved a soccer sim could feel dynamic and cinematic rather than a crude pixel diagram.
Who didn't make it
Strong contenders left off the 2026 list include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, League of Legends, and Mega Man — a sign of how competitive the selection has become. The Hall's full collection now stands at 53 inductees.